This invention relates to multifunctional drive gear selection arrangement for automatic transmissions.
Conventional drive gear selection arrangements signal the gear desired by the driver of a motor vehicle to a transmission control unit which selects the desired gear in the transmission by driving electrohydraulically actuatable control valves. Typically, drive gear selectors of this kind are designed as a selector lever which can be moved angularly in a gear selection slot so that one of several gear selection positions, for example, P, R, N, D1, D2 and D3 can be selected mechanically.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,530, for example, discloses a gear selection arrangement for an automatic transmission which can be controlled by an electronic control unit in which a manually operated gear selection lever can be moved to select one of the above-mentioned gears by moving the selector lever angularly in a first gear selection slot. The selector lever may also be switched through a transverse slot into a second gear selection slot in which the selector lever can be moved angularly by the driver to manually select a desired forward gear, for example, D1, D2 or D3.
The magazine, Automobil Revue No. 29 (14th Jul., 1994), page 19, describes a gear selection arrangement for an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle in which rocker switches are arranged on the spokes of the vehicle steering wheel by which it is possible to shift up or down in the forward-gear range of the transmission.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,115 discloses a gear selection arrangement for automatic transmissions in which a drive gear switch is arranged on the steering column in the immediate vicinity of the steering wheel. This drive gear switch is an essentially cylindrical rotary switch having a finger actuation surface projecting perpendicularly from its cylinder circumference which can be depressed to select a transmission drive gear. Pushbuttons are arranged on the finger actuation surface for the activation and deactivation of different transmission operating modes. A section of a hollow cylinder arranged for rotation about the axis of the cylindrical drive gear switch and spaced from the cylindrical drive-gear switch displays the selected gear.